1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to agricultural implements and particularly to implements which are used to broadcast seed and granular fertilizers in conjunction with an air seeder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the realm of cultivators, generally comprising a frame and being towable behind a power source, principally a tractor, such cultivators are equipped with a plurality of downwardly depending shanks. Attached to the shanks are ground-engaging tillage tools known as sweeps and narrow openers. Such ground-engaging tillage tools wear out from time to time and the inventors of the present invention have developed a means of changing and replacing such tillage openers quickly and conveniently.
In more recent years, air seeders have been used in conjunction with cultivators. Air seeders comprise a cart with a blower, a number of conveyance ducts, and a number of hoppers. Air seeders deposit seed in the trenches made by the sweeps and narrow openers of the cultivator. The seed boot is a component of this seed delivery system which places the seed in a trench that tillage tools create. A most important aspect of air seeding is to match the seed boot with a type of opener being used. The seed boot commonly has a splitter or spreader portion at the lower end which can spread or split the incoming path of blown seed to widen the deposit. The seed boots are capable of placing seed in a very narrow ribbon or spread it in a seven inch ribbon or split the yields to several ribbons of seed behind one opener.
Heavy duty cultivators usually use splitter or spreader type seed boots because of wide shank spacing, normally 12 inches between the shanks. A splitter type seed boot however will not work in conjunction with a narrow opener, because the trench the opener creates is not wide enough and seed is blown adjacent the trench. Thus, the same size of spreader or splitter seed boot is not always appropriate for different types of lands or crops.
In the present art, it is necessary to go through a cumbersome change process when changing from field to field or crop to crop by unbolting the shanks or the seed boots from the shanks and replacing them with different seed boots or different shanks. Such procedures are lengthy and cause a great deal of down time during the very busy and short planting season in some areas. As such, there currently exists a need to be able to quickly and efficiently change the seed-spread pattern created by the seed boot for different types of tillage tools. There is also a need to have a seed boot holder or receiver of seed permanently attached to the shank and to have a spreader portion detachably coupled thereto.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a quick change system and apparatus for seed boot spreads for use with cultivators.
Therefore, this invention seeks to provide a quick change seed boot adapted to be attached to a shank of a cultivator and connected to an air seeder system;
said seed boot comprising an upper holder and a lower spreader attachment;
said upper holder and said lower spreader attachment being substantially hollow in their interior;
said upper holder having a lower portion adapted to matingly engage an upper portion of said lower spreader attachment;
said seed boot further comprising a fastening means;
said fastening means being adapted to detachably connect said holder to said spreader.
The quick change seed boot of the present invention is made up of two parts; the holder and an attachment. The holder is mounted onto the shank of a cultivator with the same bolts that fasten the opener or knife to the shank. An air seeder hose is pushed into a hole at the top of the holder. The lower attachment or spreader has a male upper portion which is adapted to engage into a female pocket area of the holder. The female pocket area is obviously located on the bottom of the holder. Both the holder and the attachment are hollow to allow the seed to flow therethrough.
A fastener or pin is pushed into a hole in the holder to protrude the holder on the opposite side. The fastener can be inserted from either side of the holder. The inside of the female pocket area of the holder and the outside of the male area of the spreader attachment are equipped with an elongated recess or slot. These are adapted to engage and surround the pin or fastener.
In operation, seed is pushed down the air seeder hose by forced air and delivered through the holder tunnel area into the spreader. The seed exits through the spreader or attachment and falls into the trench created by the opener or knife. The holder remains fixed to the shank permanently while the knives or sweeps and the spreader can be removed and interchanged.